tagged w/ juvenile law
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This judge and his lawyer friend deserve lots of jail time. Their property should be sold off to pay for their own incarcerations AND restitution to the families of unjustly jailed children. I feel for these families. Do you suppose these kids will now get a FAIR TRIAL as is their right?This judge and his lawyer friend deserve lots of jail time. Their property should be... more
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Two US judges charged with taking more than $2m (£1.4m) in kickbacks from a privately-run detention centre have pleaded guilty to fraud.
Prosecutors say Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took the money in return for giving young offenders long sentences to serve in the centre.
The deal allowed PA Child Care LLC and a sister company to receive extra government funds, they say.Two US judges charged with taking more than $2m (£1.4m) in kickbacks from a... more
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Several hundred families filed a class-action suit Friday against two Pennsylvania judges who pleaded guilty on Thursday to accepting $2.6 million in kickbacks for sending juveniles to private detention facilities. The two judges, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan, pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Scranton, Pa., to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States for taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western PA Child Care. Their plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years in prison.
As many as 5,000 juveniles are believed to have appeared before Judge Ciavarella while the kickback scheme was going on.
“Money is important, but my son’s life has already been completely destroyed,” said Ruby Cherise Uca, whose son, Chad, 18, was sentenced to three months of detention by Judge Ciavarella in 2005, when Chad was in eighth grade.
Chad, who had no prior offenses, was charged with simple assault after shoving a boy at school and causing him to cut his head on a locker. Chad returned to school his freshman year, but he was so far behind in classes and so stigmatized by his teachers and peers, his mother said, that he soon dropped out.
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This case raises questions about how juveniles should be treated in the courts. Should it be mandatory for all juveniles to have council or should child protection services be required to be present? If these kids can't count on the system to look out for them who can they count on?Several hundred families filed a class-action suit Friday against two Pennsylvania... more
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A year and a half after paying a $25,000 settlement to a male-to-female transgirl, the agency that runs the New York's juvenile-detention centers has quietly adopted a host of new rules to accommodate lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth in its custody.
The new rules, adopted in March by the Office of Children and Family Services, now allow transgender youth to request special housing, wear their hair however they want, be called by their chosen name rather than their legal name, and shower privately. The new guidelines even allow biological males to wear girls' panties and bras if they prefer. The agency has also included transgender kids in its anti-discrimination policy—a first for any New York state agency, according to OCFS spokesman Edward Borges.A year and a half after paying a $25,000 settlement to a male-to-female transgirl, the... more
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Story Highlights
-Two British teenage girls found guilty of drug trafficking in Ghanian court
- 16-year-olds tried to smuggle 13 lbs of cocaine out of Ghana in laptop cases
- Pair face a maximum sentence of three years in prison under juvenile law
- Legal adviser said girls were "vulnerable," planned to appeal verdict
Another picture here:http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2007/WORLD/africa/11/21/ghana.drugs/art.ghana2.ap.jpg Story Highlights
-Two British teenage girls found guilty of drug trafficking in... more
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